A Money Coach in Canada

One of the pleasant surprises in Yellowknife is the commitment to gardening! The Arctic Farmer (which has a little stream and goats! Perhaps you need to live here to understand how unexpected goats are!) and The Garden of Eden provide all manner of delightful garden tools and rubber boots, and the first truckloads of fresh plants are a community joy.

There’s a real commitment to gardening up here, and a little known fact is that while we have a short growing season, it’s possible to grow almost anything up here because of our extended daylight hours. So when I attended a talk about food security by Ecology North, I determined to grow some of my own food.

Yesterday for my Fit in 15, I finished digging up my plot that I began last week. I work up a sweat, I’ll tell you! And those darn mosquitoes! But when I start to enjoy the carrots, peas, and rhubarb, I’m sure it will be all worthwhile.

How’s that for the circle of life – I get fit in 15 by planting food!

Readers: The contest for the iPod shuffle (4G) and $20 iTunes card is almost done! If you’ve ever grown your own food, let me know in the comments, and it’s a point to you!

This isn’t my garden, but it’s in Yellowknife. It captures the spirit of living and gardening in Yellowknife! Photo Credit: FranH

About the Author

Nancy (aka Moneycoach)Imagine if Canadians were known for being all over their money. Engaged. Proactive. Getting out of debt. Savvy. Saving. Generous. Nancy wants to help.
Nancy started her own journey with money over 15 years ago, and formed her company “Your Money by Design” in 2004 to help others along the same path. It’s not the usual financial advising/investment stuff. It’s about taking control of day-to-day finances –managing monthly cashflow effectively, spending appropriately, getting out of debt, saving.
If you're ready to take control over your finances, pop by her business site, YourMoneybyDesign.com

@Sam Thanks for popping by! I’m pretty excited about this – it’s a win, all round. Exercise, truly organic food, nearly free, and contributing in a small way to sustainability (ie. not having it shipped up here)

I grew tomatoes and herbs (basil, thyme, rosemary, oregano, mint) on the balcony of 7th floor apartment. It was easy and fun. Biggest mistake was selecting regular size tomatoes — Hint: pick a variety that does not require staking! Grow lots of basil for homemade pesto!
The balcony became a gathering place for possums (the cute ring-tailed ones) who snacked on the produce. Eventually we had an orphan possum take up residence on the balcony (and, yes, I made it a nest).
All this within a couple of km of the centre of Sydney.

I spend most of today in the yard and wandered through the garden at the end. Everything is growing well this year. We have eaten our own spinach, rhubarb galore and now a few strawberries. The raspberries could do us in – we are loaded with them. Oh yes – the lettuce is to die for. One of my 6 pots of tomatoes has baby tomatoes already!!and the zucchini and squash are already forming. I still have raised beds but want to experiment with deeper ones that I can sit on the edge to weed it. Lately the 3 chickens have been giving us 3 eggs a day and we are so happy with our mini farm. It is good to not have to worry over what is on or in our food. and it feels really good to be doing it. I hope you love it too.

My husband and I have 3 kids. I wanted them to see where their veggies from the grocery store come from! However, we live in a place in Missouri where the soil is so rocky, you hit stone about 2 inches down. So we decided to put all kinds of containers on our sunny deck. So far we have some good grape tomatoes growing, (have enjoyed eating a few red ones already) peppers, canteloupe, zucchini, yellow squash, a few peas, even carrots! I also enjoy planting a few herbs! Have found that you can buy storage containers…put a few holes in the bottom for drainage, and voila….cheaper bigger containers to handle the bigger plants! One of our boys is big into sunflowers, so he has his own sunflowers too.

We have a square-foot garden in our backyard, and grow some basic vegetables (onions, beets, radishes, lettuce, carrots, peas) every year. It’s great, and doesn’t take up much space in our yard (it’s only 4 feet square, but grows plenty of food come harvest time).

Oh, and my fit-in-15 for this week was rung 36 of the Hacker’s Diet Lifetime fitness Ladder. I didn’t post comments about it, since it’s part of my everyday routine (5:15am every day, you’ll find me in the basement doing the routine). I may switch things up next week and move up to rung 37. 🙂

Raised beds are da bomb. I love gardening so much we also helped to bring in raised beds to my kids elementary school this year! So now the kids are learning about “neighbourly” veggies and how do grow them organically. Much work, but very worth it! It would be impossible without the support of the teachers too – many who came to help make the beds – I love my community!